Community update meetings on tap for Detroit's M1 Rail, including tonight

DETROIT, MI - A community meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday is among several upcoming opportunities to get updated on the $140 million M1 Rail project.

The Wednesday evening meeting, at The Madison at 1555 Broadway in downtown Detroit, will provide updates on construction activity and planned detours.

Aside from underground utility work, which has already begun, construction of the M1 Rail streetcar infrastructure officially begins Monday, July 28. M1 Rail representatives said that work on the 3.3-mile lightrail line will close Woodward from Adams to Campus Martius Park for about 120 days.

Another community update meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, July 9 at the MSU Detroit Center, 3408 Woodward in Detroit. The current schedule for M1 Rail updates can be seen here.

Stretching from Grand Boulevard in New Center to Larned Street downtown, the M1 Rail line is scheduled to be complete in late 2016. The streetcar will have 12 stops, and will include 20 stations; 16 curbside ones and four along the median of Woodward.

Tickets to ride will cost $1.50, with reduced rates for seniors, veterans and other groups.

California-based Stacy and Witbeck was named construction manager and general contractor for the $140 million project last July. The firm has constructed 17 streetcar developments in the U.S., the first of which was in Portland, Ore. The company is also currently building three streetcar projects in Seattle, Salt Lake City and Dallas.

The federal government signed off on the M1 Rail project in April. In January 2013, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced $25 million in federal funding for the transit project. Fifteen private donors led by Penske Chairman Roger Penske, Quicken Chairman Dan Gilbert and M-1 CEO Matt Cullen contributed $100 million to the project.

David Muller is the business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter